Dental material dispenser



"ml- W a ent the barrel in another position.

[72] Invent g g, [56] References Cited I [255 Nottingham Terrace, Buffalo, New UNITED STATES PATENTS 1 1,122,710 12/1914 Felt 222/340 [2 1 PP 75 1 1,619,126 3/1927 Hundemer... 222/256 [221 ed. A t-7 3,252,624 5/1966 Watson 222/340 {45] P FOREIGN PATENTS 679,932 1/1930 France 222/340 Primary Examiner-Samuel F. Coleman Attorney-AllenJJ'affe [54] .DENTALMATERIAL DISPENSER ABSTRACT: A dental material dispenser having a barrel and v WWF' IB an attached dispensing head; a plunger slidable in the ,[52] Us, (I Y 222/256, dispensing head and a piston slidable in the barrel; an opening 1 1 32/60, 222/340 between the barrel and the plunger; a pivotally mounted lever [5|] lat." i G01Ill/00 engaging the plunger; a single actuating pivotally mounted [50] Field of 222/256, lever engaging the plunger lever in one position and engaging DENTAL MATERIAL DISPENSER BACKGROUND OF Tl-IE DISCLOSURE The present invention relates to dental material dispensers and, more particularly, to amalgam guns.

Amalgam guns are currently known that dispense portions of amalgam. These generally have been limited only to a single application of the amalgam before the dispenser had to be reloaded. The procedure is time consuming and inefficient.

Other dispensers have been suggested wherein multiple applications of the amalgam are permitted. With this type of devices separate controls are provided for loading the dispenser and actuating the same, necessitating the use of both of the operator's hands.

In addition with both of the foregoing general types of dispensers the amalgam has a tendency to adhere to and aceu- SUMMARY or THE INVENTION The foregoing, and other, disadvantages of the prior devices are overcome according to the present invention which provides a dispenser for amalgam or other dental materials that is capable of long use between loadings, easy to load and operate, trouble free in functioning and operable by a single control means for loading and dispensing.

Basically the present invention provides an amalgam or the like material dispenser, comprising: an elongated barrel having an interior polytetrafluoroethylene lined chamber; a tubular dispenser head having an interior polytetrafluoroethylene lined passage attached to the barrel at an inclined angle with respect to the longitudinal axis thereof; an opening in the wall of the head placing the interior passage thereof in communication with the chamber; a plunger slidable in the passage beyond the opening; resilient means urging the plunger away from the opening; a piston slidable in the chamber; resilient means urging the pistontoward the opening; means for loading the chamber with amalgam or a like material to be dispensed; first meansoperative in one position for urging the plungertowa'rd and beyond the opening; and second means operative in one positionfor urgingthe piston'away from the opening and operative in a second position to place the first means in its one operative position.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING For a fuller understanding of the present invention reference may now be had to the following detailed description of the'same taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a front elev-ational viewof the apparatus according to the present invention, and 7 FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the apparatus shownin FIG. 1.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERREDEMBODIMENT Referring now to the drawings, the amalgam dispenser is generally depicted by the numeral 10 and is shown as comprising a barrel 12 that is generally cylindrical andhas angularly attached at one end thereof a tubular dispensing head 14. The other end of barrel I2 is closed by a removable threaded cap 16, which also functions as a spring retainer, as will become apparent hereinbelow. Slidably mounted in the hollow interior of barrel 12 is a reciprocating piston 18. A spring interposed between the piston 18 and the cap 16 functions to normally urge or bias the piston toward head 14. Suitably attached'to and'laterallyprojecting from the end of piston 18 that is adjacent spring 20 is a pin 22 that passes throughan elongated slot 24 on the side of barrel 12.Ba'rrel 12 has a side access opening 26 that is normally closed by a door 28 which is pivotally mounted to the barrel as by pin 30 or the like. Door 28 may beheld in itsclosed position by a conventional friction detent or a latch (not illustrated).-

'clockwise about pivot 48; thereby causing pin 40 and the Dispensing head 14 has a hollow-constant diameter interior passage 32 that is in communication with the barrel interior chamber by means of opening 34. A generally rod-shaped plunger 36 is slidably mounted in head 14, the upper end of which is located beyond head passage 32 and has suitably affixed thereto a laterally projecting pin 40. lnterposed between the upper end of head 14 and pin 40 is a compression spring 42, which normally functions to bias the plunger 36 upwardly away from opening 34.

Mounted exteriorly between barrel l2 and head 14 is a fulcrum support member 44, which has rotatably pinned thereto a plunger actuating lever 46 as shown at 48. A weak spring 50 is suitably attached to the lever and support and functions to normally maintain one end section of the lever in sliding contact with the plunger pin 40.

A second fulcrum support 52 is mounted on the exterior of barrel 12 and has suitably rotatably pinned thereto, as at 54, an elongated actuating lever 56, which terminates in an actuating handle 58. As illustrated, the end of lever 56 that is remote from handle 58 is in sliding contact with the piston pin 22; whereas a section thereof intermediate this end and pivot point 54 is in sliding contact with lever 46.

To prevent adherence of the amalgam or other material to be dispensed, the interior of the dispenser head and the interior of the barrel are suitably lined or coated with a layer of polytetrafluoroethylene as shown at 60.

In the operation of the dispenser according to the present invention, lifting handle 58'upwardly in the direction of arrow A will cause lever 56 to pivot counterclockwise about pin 54, thereby forcing pin 22 and the piston to slide toward cap 16 and away from opening 34. In this position door 28 can be opened and a cylindrical slug of amalgam may be inserted through opening 26. Handle 58 can then be released allowing the piston 22 under the force of spring 20 to urge the amalgam slug toward opening 34 with a portion thereof passing through the opening into the dispenser head interior passage 32.

At this point continued downward movement of handle 58 in the direction of arrow B will cause lever 56 to rotate clockwise about pivot 54 which, due to the sliding contact between levers 46 and 54, causes lever 46 to rotate counterplunger36 to move downwardly toward and beyond opening 34. Movement of the plunger beyond opening 34 permits the flat end face of the plunger to slice off the portion of the amalgam slug that projected into passage 32. When the handle is released plunger 36 is again urged away from opening 34 and a new portion of the amalgam slug passes therethrough under the force of piston 18. In this manner many slices of amalgam can be dispensed andapplied to its area of use before the dispenser has to be reloaded.

While a preferred embodiment of the invention has been illustrated and described, many variations will occur to those skilled in the art; therefore, it is intended that the invention is to be limited only by the scope of the appended claims.

Iclaim:

l. A dental amalgam or the like material dispenser, comprising:

a. an elongated tubular barrel having an interior chamber;

b. a tubular dispenser head attached to said barrel having an interior passage and an opening in a sidewall thereof placing said interior passage in communication with said chamber;

c. a plunger slidable in said interior passage beyond said opening;

d. resilientmeans urging said plunger away from said opening; e. a piston slidable in said chamber; f. resilient means urging said piston toward said opening;

g. meansproviding access to said chamber for loading the same with amalgam or a like material to be dispensed;

h.. first means operative in one position for urging said plunger toward and beyond said opening;

i. second means operative in one position to urge said piston away from said opening and operative in another position to place said firstmeans in its said operative position;

j. said first means comprises a lever pivotally mounted intermediate the ends thereof with one end engaging said plunger, and the other end engaging said second means; and

k. said second means comprises an actuating lever pivotally mounted between the ends thereof having portions on one side of the pivotal axis thereof engaging said piston and said other end of said first means.

2. The dispenser according to claim 1, wherein:

said chamber and saidpassage are lined with a layer of polytetrafluoroethylene.

3. The dispenser according to claim 1, further comprising:

l. an elongated slot in said barrel;

m. a pin on said piston passing through said slot; and 

